P Hillard - The Teller of Lies

“Show them!” Gurrit said. “It’s a neat party trick.”

“Rendering Acknowledgment. Of course.” The machine seemed to shimmer for a moment, then vanished. It reappeared a second later, fading back into existence. “Apparently this ability is uncommon in your era.”

“Who are you? What is this place?” Aileena let her rifle hang slack on its strap. Despite its worries about appearing threatening, the machine felt anything but.

“Installing shocked expression. Oh, I’m sorry, how rude of me. I am called, the Custodian. Not a terribly original name I know, but I’m rather attached to it. This is planetary temple installation twelve.” The Custodian’s tentacles gestured around itself proudly. “Sadly, I believe this to be the only temple remaining.”

“Temple?”

“Oh no,” Michael muttered to himself. It was all starting to make sense. The image he recognised, the machines casual mention of how long it had been waiting. Things were lining up in a way he didn’t like.

“Loading affirmative. Yes, the people who built this place built it in the image of their home world. They considered it a sacred place, so emulated its form. Though I will admit the shape of the continents is a little inaccurate. Translating a sphere to a flat plane isn’t the easiest thing. Oh, where are my manners, I should offer you a drink. Hold still a moment.” The Custodian began to creep closer to Michael and Aileena, a tentacle outstretched.

“Let him do it,” Jurlt said. “Trust me it’s worth it.”

A wave of light burst from the tip of the tentacle, washing over Aileena.

“Scanning. Mammalian species, typical configuration. Superior vision than average.” The Custodian turned the tentacle, light still glowing at the tip. It washed over Michael. “Scanning. Oh. Oh my. This is… interesting.” The light swept over Michael again.

“Come on, let’s get it over with,” Michael said.

“What’s going on Michael? What are you talking about?” Aileena looked concerned, her hand touching the side of her rifle.

“This is Earth. The planet, it’s a copy of it. I knew I recognised it, I’ve seen it before, in a movie. One about killer dinosaurs. This is how the Earth looked around the Jurassic period. About two hundred million years ago. Again, I only remember that because the movie brought it up.”

“Hypothesis generating. Genetic markers common to the home world detected. Subject is mammalian, though thoroughly unremarkable.”

“Hey!” Michael said in protest.

“Also detecting complex hydrocarbons within the body of subject. Unable to form a theory as to why a species would willingly consume such matter.”

“It’s more ignorance than wilfulness,” Michael said. “You’re picking up, what was it? Genetic markers? It’s because I’m from this planet. Well, the one this place was based on. Earth.”

“Speculating. Whilst possible, you could be descended from a colony. None exist in my records, but they could also be incomplete. My builders were not mammalian, this form would require significant genetic deviation.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Aileena said. “He’s from Earth.”

“Yeah, as thrilled as I am to find out there was apparently a dinosaur civilisation, it’s all mammals now. And honestly, whilst that’s the coolest thing I’ve heard in a while, I’m sorry to tell you there have been multiple extinction events on Earth since then. Considering the location of Earth has been secret for a few thousand years, I think your builders are long gone.”

“Acceptance acknowledged. I supposed as much, it has been rather a long time since they last checked in. Oh, your drinks are ready.” A section of the floor slid open, a square column of metal rising from within. Sat upon it were two glasses, each containing a different liquid. One was dark brown, near black, whilst the other was a pale green. “This is yours,” the Custodian said, lifting the dark brown drink with a tentacle and passing it to Michael. Aileena reached out and took the other.

Michael took a sip. It was cold, fizzy and tasted almost exactly like cola. “This is good,” Michael said.

“Selecting appropriate thank you. Thanks, I have calculated the liquid to be the ideal beverage based on your species’ taste buds. I take it I did well?”

“You did.”

“Elation emotion selected. I’m glad! I will say, it is rather interesting to have a purpose again, aside from maintaining the planet. I can even advance the design, finally, wildlife! Of a sort.”

“Wildlife? We haven’t seen any animals.” Aileena said.

“Answering question. There are none at the moment, I didn’t have the required components. Thankfully a ship in orbit has everything I need! It’s not perfect but needs must. I’ve started production of the first, a kind of cattle. Next, I might make insects, honestly using my extra bodies to pollinate is tedious.”

“Uh, ship?” Michael said. He had a horrid feeling in his gut. “Which ship?”

Kestok held the tools in his hands, the thin points sparking as he pushed them against the exposed circuits of the rifle. There was a banging against the door, the living metal herd having made its way to the engineering bay. It was a purposeful move by Clive, an attempt to corral them into a single location where most of them could be dealt with easily, but constructing the weapon was proving trickier than first thought.

“That should do it,” Kestok said, closing the panel on the side. “Hopefully.”

“Should we open the doors then?” Skorra had clambered her way through the ducts, dropping down into the engineering bay with a thud. The room felt oddly empty, Skorra had gotten used to it being filled with bots constantly tinkering and performing repairs. There were still large burn marks in some sections where power relays had overloaded from the shield being bombarded.

“Well, we’ve got to try it sometime.” Kestok shrugged, then lifted the rifle from the table it had been resting on. He pressed a switch on the side, and the weapon began to hum loudly. “Clive, open the doors.”

There was a low hiss as the locks released and the doors to the engineering bay slid apart. A cluster of living beds ambled through, surprised at the now open passage. They lumbered in, metal limbs clanking on the deck as they walked.

Kestok raised the weapon and aimed, focusing the sights on the centre of the herd. He squeezed the trigger and the hum grew louder, building within the rifle. A second later, and a burst of blue light erupted from the barrel, expanding outwards in a wave that washed over the beds. They froze in place, the nanobots woven into the metal dying as the energy fried the delicate machinery inside.

“Well, glad this works at least.”

Clive’s image appeared next to Kestok, though it seemed faint, like the swarm that comprised it up was smaller than usual. “Next time give me a warning, so I can move the nanobots. We lost an entire corridor’s worth then.”

“I thought you have enough for basically forever?” Skorra said.

“Only if we don’t start wiping them out in droves. I think that maybe we can… oh. One moment.” Clive’s face went limp as he stared off into space. “The bots have… stopped. A good thing too, they had run out of scrap and were eyeing up the panelling on the walls.”

“Why? Why now?” Skorra’s ears were twitching as she spoke.

As Skorra asked the question, there was a glow in the air, more clouds of nanobots forming images. They coalesced into Michael and Aileena, along with a strange machine that loomed over them, metal tentacles undulating beneath it.

“Hello?” Michael said. “Is this working?” He waved his hand.